Architectural Gems on the Betanzos Ría

What to do in a beach town when the weather just does not cooperate? Hop in the car and do some sightseeing! And that's precisely what we did one summer Saturday when ONCE AGAIN it was cloudy and looked like it was going to rain on our beach weekend. It's a risk you take in Galicia. Especially in the upper regions rather than the Rías Baixas.

The Windmill of Boucelo

Relatively ¨young¨ as far as the Old Continent is concerned, this windmill dates to 1840. Apparently there used to be over 100 windmills in Galicia, but now they are few and far between. This one in particular is in decent condition, about 20 feet high an 10 in diameter. Can you believe the walls are about a yard thick?! Holy cow! 

The Church of St. Michael of Breamo

This Romanesque church is all that remains of a Benedictine monastery built nearly a thousand ago. Love me some románica architecture! Nowadays the small church is famous for its romarías. (I really need to thoroughly explain Galician festival vocabulary some day). Twice a year people make the hike up the hill to the church, stopping repeatedly to catch their breath and probably take a swig of something potent. Behind the church are some picnic tables and stone grills used only on these days. 

I (sort of) hope to be able to update this post in the future with two more architectural treasures in the area: the Castle of Andrade and the Pazo of Mariñán. They are definitely on my list, but going to them means that it will have been another dreary day at the beach. 

Galicia on Fire

Last month the local and national news barely talked about anything else. Galicia was on fire, along with neighboring Castilla y León. This summer, the biggest wildfires on record in Galicia engulfed the land. Dozens of forest fires burned rampant, mostly in nearly-vacant southern Ourense.  In August alone 270,000 acres burned in Galicia. And these official estimates provided by the Galician government are perhaps exceedingly optimistic, as Coppernicus (the EU's observation of Earth) calculates a number closer to 341,000 acres. That's half the state of Rhode Island! When you put it that way, it doesn't sound very big seeing as Rhode Island is such a tiny state. But imagine all of that ablaze and destroyed for years to come. Alarming!

Uncontrolled wildfires leave a trail of helplessness and destruction. I can only imagine what it's like to see your house threatened by mile-high flames. In addition to helplessness, rage. The wildfires have many causes, the most unthinkable being thoughtless people who intentionally start them themselves, either pyromaniacs or people who think it's easier to burn the brush than clean it up with machinery. Rural abandonment doesn't help, either. With the countryside ¨emptied out¨ in some places, highly flammable brush plus the thousands of Eucalyptus trees planted far and wide to make a buck make the land a matchbox. Call it an indirect result of Galician policy. There are direct political causes, too. As this is a recurring problem in Galicia, there are protocols to prepare for wildfire season. The Galician government (known as the Xunta) dropped the ball on this one. One example: vacant public positions were left unfilled so that in the middle of the chaos caused by the flames, the Xunta desperately sought to hire 300 forest fire fighters. Too little, too late. 

Luckily the end of August brought a drop in temperatures and that typical Galician rain. The good news is all of the wildfires have been put out. The bad news is, as they are no longer making headlines, soon they will be forgotten. No changes will be made nor blame accepted until next year's wildfire season. Here's hoping I'm wrong on that.